• Act XI- Again


    But, Mother did tell of a happily ever after that one must wait for…

    The day comes for her cremation. I walked into the cave to see Ichio sleeping peacefully next to her resting place only she wasn’t there. I slowly strolled back outside and saw that Hotaka was sleeping as well; I was awake since at least 2 in the morning and I had no idea how the rest of them were able to sleep so much. I kicked Hotaka’s muzzle to wake him up, Hey,” I called in monotone. Hotaka’s dark brown head shot up, “AHA?! Uh. Wh-what now?” “Where’d you put her ashes?” I asked with no emotion. ‘Where’d you put her ashes?’ That’s probably the most painful question I never thought I would ask. In a perfect world, there would be no such thing as death or sadness yet; here we are making plans for funerals.

    “What? I was gonna wait for this evening for that…why?” I could see the concern and panic evolve on Hotaka’s face. Myself included.

    “She’s not there!” I exclaimed as I pointed to the cave.

    “WHAT?! You don’t think some animals came and-“ Hotaka continued.

    I interrupted him before he could finish his gruesome thought, “No! One of us would have noticed!”

    Hotaka blinked into a human and paced vigorously, “Well, it’s not like she got up an left!” I felt like punching him at that moment.

    “Well, then where is she?!” I yelled as I scrambled to search everything around me.

    “If I knew I would tell you, Zero!!” Hotaka returned angrily. I woke Ichio and Sparks up to look for her. Where could she be?! The most horrifying thought I had in my mind was that a wild pack of animals saw an opportunity for an easy meal and took off with her. As a group, we combed through every bush, cave, tree, river, and hole. But each attempt ended up with the same, empty handed and with her still missing. I was so livid that I cut down a tree or too in my blind fury rampage. It took all of Hotaka’s, Sparks’ and Ichio’s strength to keep me from tearing down that whole got forsaken forest. Six hours later, we ended the search with bloody hands and even heavier hearts. The whole night I didn’t one blink of sleep I wasn’t even tired. And then, the biggest revelation hit me; end it all. If I were to just end my life, I would be with her for all of eternity. That’s my only escape. It’s so simple; she was my only reason for living and now that she’s gone what’s the point? The others don’t need me they can handle themselves. Little did I know that dawn was quickly approaching and I didn’t have a lot of time to destroy myself. I had to do something quick, painless and not leave a lot of evidence…jump. Find the tallest cliff in the damned place and just jump and don’t look back.

    I climbed to the very top of her mountain cave and the peak wasn’t rocky or rugged in any way. The peak consisted of lush grass where the dew sparkled like the brightest evening star. The grass caressed my legs like hundreds of wet feathers; it almost soothed my anger…almost. I came to the edge of the cliff and I could see the treetops like a lush carpet, welcoming me. Inviting me to jump, I could hear gentle footsteps coming up the side of the mountainside, probably Sparks or Ichio. I couldn’t let him stop me; this is my one and only solution. I took one step forward. The pitter-patter of feet stopped and a painfully familiar scent blended with the pine smell. Just one more step and I will be done. “STOP!!!” I heard a memorable voice scream. I turned to see Yukiru standing about 20 feet behind me. I automatically knew I was dreaming. Her shirt still remained bloody from the rods that killed her, which I found quite odd for a dream. The wind blew with a mighty gust from the east and Yukiru’s black, stringy hair flowed in front of her tear-streamed face. I turned my head back down at the pine-covered ground and took that last step I needed to end it all. “ZERO!!!” That ended my dream…wait. Why aren’t I falling? I looked up to see Yukiru holding onto my wrist with one hand and anchoring herself to the edge with her other hand.

    “I told you to be safe, didn’t I?!” She yelled with a furious face. Then, she started to cry…

    Her voice,

    Her scent,

    Her tears,

    The feel of her skin against mine; I’m not dreaming? I’m not dreaming!!

    “Yukiru!” I called up to her be fore I noticed that her shoulder was bleeding with a small stream swimming down her arm and into my hand.

    She sniffled, “I’m back.”

    I planted both of my feet onto the side if the mountain and grabbed the ledge with my free hand and sling-shot myself back onto solid ground, with Yukiru still glued to my arm. We tumbled for a while and she ended up below me and my body carefully over hers. I was on my hands and knees just staring at her in incredulity, her hair was elegantly braided in with the grass beneath us and her shaky fingers lightly grazed my cheek, she touched me. Her eyes welled up with enormous tears, “I’m back, ZiZi.”

    I, too, shed tears, “KiKi,” I breathed as my lips almost violently met hers. I flipped us over making gravity push her body closer to mine, my arms constricted just under her ribcage with her around my neck. I could feel her tears on my face, making no effort to join with mine. I lifted one leg with my foot flat on the ground, making a small triangle. Without meaning to, Yukiru fell between my legs, she didn’t seem to mind it too much, though.

    Our lips compressed harshly yet, it was perfectly subtle. My hands rubbed up and down her back, taking some of her shirt with it but this wasn’t the time for that. Yukiru was alive and she was mine again. I almost lost my self-control when I felt her tongue lightly sway over my bottom lip. As much as I didn’t want to, I separated our lips and looked at her eyes just for one second and the spark, shimmer that I had so agonizingly missed was back and gazing back. I held her head in-between my neck and shoulder with my body quivering with wanting to purely feel her. Her skin was warm again and her scent was almost clear of all blood. Her sobs were muffled against me so I lightly stroked her trembling head, “Shh, shh. It’s all right now. I sat up and lifted her head off of me and pecked her lips. “I missed you so much! So much!” she blubbered. I used my thumb to scrape the tears away and I didn’t have a response to her statement. ‘I missed you’ just didn’t cover it.


    {{End of Point of View}}



    My body ached so much. Zero’s passionate sanctuary of a body squeeze didn’t help much but I was more than happy I could actually feel again. I couldn’t help my crying; I hadn’t seen Zero in at least two weeks because I died. That word still stains my mouth with the scent of blood and tears. I t was like Zero was my other half, my soul mate and every waking minute without him was excruciating. Before I could kiss him again, I heard three sets of footsteps race up the side of the cliff, the three people I couldn’t wait any longer to reunite with; Hotaka, Sparks, and even Ichio. Sparks was the first to impact his body to mine, even though him and Ichio took off at the same time. He was crying, trying to subdue any wailing by gritting his teeth but of course he let out his voice into my chest. And then, something I never excepted from him, “Yukiru-chan!!! I missed you so m-much!” I couldn’t resist letting a tear swim down my cheek at Sparks’ voice. Before I could respond, Ichio rammed into my chest with a violently strong hug at the ready. I had my two little ones in my arms, much like a mother with her children. I painfully blinked into my long-missed wolf form and ecstatically rumbled with Sparks and Ichio until my body ached more than I could handle. I could never let anyone know that I was in pain, to many horrifying memories.
    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    When I finished, Hotaka looked at me with glossy eyes, I turned human and gave him a big hug, tears burned behind my eyes.

    As I released him I whispered in Hotaka’s ear, “Happy Birthday.” Only then when I looked at his humble face did I see one tear run down his cheek, quickly followed by another. We all just ran into each other in a loving congregation; a huge-a** group hug.

    No one stopped smiling for the rest of that day. Not for one single minute.

    As we all jogged back down the cliff side, I sat down and welcomed my little brother into my lap with Sparks cemented at my side, just as usual. Hotaka sat in front of me in disbelief, “H-how?”

    I smiled and rolled my eyes subtly, “You know how my power is that I can heal any injury that I inflict on myself, right?

    Everyone nodded.

    I continued, “Okay, well when we went into that battle with Surt-Lim and what not, I knew that I was going to be at least hurt. So in a twisted way-“

    “Your injuries were self-inflicted,” Zero finished for me. All of my comrades gazed at my in both joy, and wonder.

    “But, Ani-chan…you died,” Ichio said looking up at me with such miserable eyes.

    I swallowed the immense lump in my throat, “Not, exactly. As soon as Surt-Lim hit me with his last pin, my body started healing itself. But, as you guys saw; those weren’t minor injuries. And, my body had to heal itself and keep my heart beating, brain computing etcetera so, my body, in short took a break so I could fully heal. And once that happened, my body would restart and, BAM!”

    Even though this was a some-what happy topic, I could sense Zero’s heartbreaking stare on me. I looked at him with a confused look. He finally poke up, “Where did you go?” His tone was completely serious and mature but it had a ‘brother away from his sister’ feel to it, “We searched restlessly high and low for you, Yukiru.” Guilt journeyed all the way through my body, “Did you check the mountaintop?”

    Everyone had a large sweat bead on their faces, “N-no.” They all responded. I laughed, “I was resting up there because my body could get better sunlight and be less cold like I was in the cave.”

    For the remainder of that day, all we did was laugh and talk. But, once night fell, I rested with my eyes open with Ichio and Sparks sleeping silently on either side of me. I didn’t want to stop feeling their small bodies against mine again. Zero sat up against the base of a nearby tree with his eyes closed. I sighed noiselessly, “You don’t have to pretend to sleep, Zero,” I whispered over to him. His eyes instantly shot open, “I know.”

    I got up little by little so I couldn’t wake my little ones. And made my way over next to Zero and pecked his cheek, “What’s up?” He sighed sorrowfully and put his face in his hands, “Yukiru…” there was a long pause, “You died. I thought I would never see you again, gone forever. I t was my fault, all my fault,” He was breathing heavily, struggling to keep his tears back. I quickly got in front of him and twisted my arms around his neck and my head in the crevice of his neck, “No. Shut up. Stop it. Nothing was your fault.”

    {{Zero’s Perspective}}


    My guilt tugged and dissolved my heart, my chest felt so heavy…until she hugged me. I could feel the hurt in her voice. But, it was true, my life was pointless without her, had no meaning left. I loved her too much not to feel so atrocious for her death. It wasn’t directly by my hand but, if my hand were quicker, everything would be okay.

    {{End of Perspective}}


    I could feel his arms coil on my rib cage and his body become more prominent against mine. In his arms, protective, secure arms nothing would hurt me. When we finally separated, he kissed me. It wasn’t as brutal and violent as our last one was. This join of our lips was soft, sensual, and careful. He grasped me in his cage arms again and placed one hand on the back of my head, “I love you, KiKi. More than anything.” His words were agonizingly honest. My leaned my cheek on his stone yet comforting chest and smiled gently, “The feeling’s mutual.” He raised my chin with his index finger and kissed my slowly again. I fell asleep on him, just like we used to. I was in his arms, home, whole, back again.

    End of Act XI